Trouser Press wrote: "Secret weapon harp demon Magic Dick ... sends out waves of soulful moaning on some of the songs as horns and tasteful strings gussy up others; the lively variety show of smoking R&B, Stonesy guitar rock, rugged pop and whiskey-scarred soul ... scores on all four fronts."
Robert Christgau deemed the album "clubland nostalgia."
The Washington Post called "I'm Inside You" a "dire carnal-love ballad."
The Boston Globe considered
Smoking in the Fields to be "a hard-rock triumph." The
Toronto Star concluded that, "at their worst ('Down in Allen's Mills'), Del Fuegos sound like earnest Mellencamp imitators."
The Times lamented that "Dan Zanes has forsaken the slobbish, neo-Tom Waits drawl that used to make his singing so wondrously heroic."
AllMusic wrote that "Zanes is in fine form with ragged voice throughout, yet this album remains a blueprint for how these generally well-written tunes probably sounded live in a smoky club, the band's natural habitat." ==Track listing==